Why men used to be scared of shopping trolleys.

[lolly_loisides]

http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2015/04/10/the-story-of-the-shopping-cart/

 

[LizzieMaine]

Excellent article, and the comments are equally interesting. I agree that the advent of the giant-size carriage goes wheel in wheel with the rise of giant suburban super-mega stores -- when I was growing up we had two little Main Street grocers with the pre-child-seat small carriages. You couldn't have manipulated a big carriage around their narrow little aisles.

"Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture" is a book that's going onto my reading list.

 

[DonnaP]

I don't know, I think there's a little more to the culture of using a shopping cart. I think it has a lot to do with encouraging people to do their shopping for the week rather than daily shopping. I know people who live in the UK who shop daily for the evening meal. Here in the US people want to get it done for the week, or even the entire month.

Or a I'm just saying the same thing as the article, only differently. I guess, I feel the article is saying the carts encourage people to eat more food, and I think it makes people shop less often. They aren't filling their plates with more food, they are filling them with food that will last longer

On the other hand, I did take my daughter with me to one of the big wholesale club stores to pick up supplies for work, and she commented on the huge carts and I told her that there was a culture of thinking you were buying your food cheap, but what you were really getting was a bulk lot of food with no nutritional value, that these stores specialized in pre-made, packaged food that made you feel like you were getting a deal at the expense of good, healthy food.

 

[sheeplady]

I love the small shopping carts (we shop for the week or two, but it never fills more than the small cart and because of the two layers it keeps things from getting smooshed). However, the shopping carts we have here do not have a child's seat, and my daughter is too young to sit in the cart without a seat.

Although, she is getting old enough to want to PUSH the cart. Which is it's own basket of worms.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I can't remember the last time I actually used a carriage. I shop every other day or so, when I can squeeze it into my work schedule, largely because I don't have a freezer or anywhere to store large amounts of food. And shopping for one, there isn't much point in laying up a big supply of stuff you're liable to get sick of before you've eaten it all. I use the hand baskets if I use a carrying device at all -- with my eyes as bad as they are now I'd be afraid to push a carriage even if I needed one. Some poor soul would get run over and I'd rather not get sued.

My mother used to like to go to the Sams Club, but I couldn't handle it. I was shell-shocked for a week.

 

[sheeplady]

I think it's a cultural thing how often you shop. I grew up almost an hour away from a full grocery store after our local store closed. My parents shopped once a week or every two weeks.

We now live 5 minutes from a grocery store, but old habits die hard. I can really see the difference between myself and my husband. If we run out of toothpaste he buys a tube, I buy four. We have an upright freezer. I have enough canned goods on hand to feed us for at least three weeks in the case of a power outage.

 

[DonnaP]

We lived in a big city with numerous grocery stores, but my mom would do a once a month trip where she would go to a sort of pre-Sam's Club called Barney's--sort of like a huge Aldi's, pretty much all canned goods in a big warehouse--and stock up on canned food for the month, which we would store in a pantry-ish locker in the basement. We'd do weekly grocery shopping for fresh food and milk, although I think she would do monthly shopping for meat which she'd wrap and store in the big freezer we had in the basement.

My Sam's Club forays are for work only when we do post show receptions for opening night(I work at a theatre) and I have a list where I'm pretty much in and out. I have permission to use the membership for my own shopping, but I really can't bear going there for anything else.

 

[Babydoll]

Our local grocery store is also clothing, furniture, etc. I guess it could be considered a department store? Anyway, our store offers an hour of free child care (in a contained play area), so I'm able to check Lily in to do my shopping. I use a small cart. I do shopping twice a week - on Monday, and on Friday. I plan our menu to take advantage of what is on sale that week, so that there is no wasted produce, and make leftovers for hubby's lunch the next day.

We used to have a Costco membership (first Costco store is about 10 minutes from home), but I found that when I went there I didn't leave without spending a minimum of $100 on stuff we didn't really need, or went bad before we worked our way through it. When you're a one-income family, you have to be conscientious of those expenditures. The main thing that we purchased there was diapers. Once she was potty trained, no need for it, so not renewed.

I will stock up on something we use if it is on sale, clearance, or I can combine a coupon and a sale. For instance, there is a particular apple juice that Lily prefers (no sugar added, smaller box size so perfect for her to be able to get herself one serving), and our store put it on clearance - not because the juice was close to expiring, but because the packaging was changing. So I bought 8 packages of 8 boxes of juice for what it would have cost me for 3 packages. And I'm set on juice for a very long time. I also just bought 6 toothbrushes because I found the kind I prefer on clearance at Target. (Hubby just told me he doesn't like that kind of toothbrush. ) So, I have toothbrushes for a long time.

The biggest thing that saves me money when I shop? A vacuum sealer. I buy manager's special packages of meat and bring them right home, portion them into individual meal sizes, and freeze. I try to keep two week's worth of meat on hand. That gives me options for planning meals based on whatever is on sale for the week at the store (sides, and produce), and enough variety that we don't get tired of one particular meal. Right now we have salmon, cod, chicken tenderloins, a marinated turkey breast, several packages of pork chops (huge family pack on sale), ground pork, turkey hot dogs, beef stew meat, sirloin steaks, leftover Easter ham, beef sausage links (from our favorite bbq place in Texas - brought home on our last visit to the in-laws), and a bone-in pork roast that is destined to be carnitas for Cinco de Mayo tomorrow.

I also have a huge stock of canned goods. They are rotated through use, and replaced when they go on sale. It is enough to see us through a few weeks of a natural disaster.

 

[emigran]

I shop once weekly and what concerns me is the myriad numbers of seniors shuffling about the aisle , in apparent overwhelm, staring at shelves and aimlessly putting items in their baskets... I wonder what they actually need and/or use whilst purveying all the spectacular colors and displays...cleverly marketed into expenditure.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

This leapt into my mind when I saw this thread. I don't know how this guy can do this with his tongue so far into his cheek!


I'm headed out for some yogurt, fruit, and milk, but I won't be wearing a backwards ball cap.

[video=youtube;vx4-ULOW3q4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx4-ULOW3q4[/video]

 

[tonyb]

This leapt into my mind when I saw this thread. I don't know how this guy can do this with his tongue so far into his cheek!


I'm headed out for some yogurt, fruit, and milk, but I won't be wearing a backwards ball cap.

[video=youtube;vx4-ULOW3q4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx4-ULOW3q4[/video]

Now that's funny. The comedic tone is a bit reminiscent of Martin Mull's take on Delta blues (he himself hails from the Delta region of Cleveland) circa 1973.

A badass in a Prius severely put-upon by the ways in which Whole Foods fails him. It's getting real, bro ...